“The Glass Prison” by Dream Theater

"The Glass Prison" throws open Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Dream Theater's sixth studio album, a double-disc set the American prog-metal outfit put out through Elektra on January 29, 2002. It even starts with a wink backward: the same crackle of phonograph static that ended "Finally Free" on Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory.

Mike Portnoy wrote the lyrics about his own recovery from alcoholism, splitting the song into three parts that track the first three of AA's twelve steps, and it was only the opening chapter of his Twelve-step Suite, which carried on through later albums with songs like "This Dying Soul" and "The Shattered Fortress". James LaBrie sings, Portnoy drums, John Petrucci, John Myung and Jordan Rudess handle guitar, bass and keyboards, and Petrucci and Portnoy produced it, with Kevin Shirley mixing.

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